D Walter

I agree with all the above. We have installed external roller blinds on the more W facing windows to cut out the solar gain from the low sun in the summer. In addition, the blinds act as mosquito screens so we can safely open the windows at night to allow for cooling. Unfortunately, I gave in to time/cost pressure and engineering complexity and did not insist on an opening window at the top of the atrium to vent warm air at night. That being said, the external blinds make the temperature manageable.

Hi, just wanted to check I have the Summer Bypass function right. The attached extract from the manual shows a "Maximum" and a "Minimum" extract air temperature setting. My reading of this is, if I want to maintain the highest level of cooling (minimum level of heat re-cycling) in order to keep the house as cool as possible in summer I would set the "Maximum" its lowest settings (20C ). Then, whenever the extract air temperature exceeds 20C the bypass will be activated provided the outside air temperature is lower than the extract air temperature. Have I got this right? As for the "Minimum" setting, I assume this is less significant as the indoor temperature will never drop below 19.5C in summer but setting it at 19.5C would give the best opportunity for cooling..... Thanks. David

Slightly off topic, but is there any guidance on use of insect mesh on the air intake for an MVHR system. We are in a rural area and the air intake filter gets a significant covering of insects in the summer so I have fitted a mesh cover to the external air inlet. As this could could inhibit the air intake flow rate is there any guidance/recommendations other than keeping the insect mesh clear?

Congratulations, almost there and it looks great! We moved into our newbuild on the Island just over a year ago; the end of a decade of site clearance, planning and building. I am sure you are going to love it.

Thanks Russell. About 10 years from starting clearing the site to finishing.

Well, you got the Trespa right so ?. I did look at the zinc but very costly and more dependent on the quality of the fitting than with the Tata.

Thanks Mr Punter. We spent lots of time looking at timber cladding all over the place and particularly in coastal enviornments like ours and so much had weatherd badly (uneven with lots of blackening) that we decided on the Trespa. Speaking to local builders the general impression was that timber cladding did not fare well in the Island. Yes, very pleased so far and hopefully it will wear well. The Tata steel cladding is also doing well so far but it is very early days.....

I have not submitted any pictures of our finished house so here are a few exteriors, with the landscaping almost finished. There is a bit of estate railing, steel edging to the drive and a bit more topsiol required. With the estate railing and the edging for the drive and flower beds we buy in the steel, my builders do the setting out and the heavy lifting and I do all the welding on site. Thanks again for all the assistance and encouragement. David

Apologies, but I do not have a technical grounding and don't understand the response. Are you able to clarify, thanks.

Hi, picking up on this old thread, is there a simple way to convert the airtightness results from a SAP test into the Passive House equivalent or will I need to do a volume calculation for the house first? Our SAP test has just been done and the I was told that the result is 1.71 which I assume is m3/(m2*h).

Yup, completed the survey. Hope it goes well.

Thanks Pocster. The risk of galvanic corrosion between alu and galvanised is relatively low in any event.

Hi Pocster, Looking at your photo, have you used anodised alu channel for the frameless balustrade and was it bolted into galvanised steel? If so, what sort of bolts did you use and were you able to take any precautions against galvanic corrosion?

We have just received certification of inspections carried out from our nominated CRL inspector, which is a hopeful sign...

Hi, Quick update - my Structural Engineer says that securing the bottom fixed alu channel with M10 Type 316 SS bolts into tapped threaded RHS 8mm mild steel box section is fine. On the issue of frameless glass balustrading moving out of alignment over time, this should hopefully not be a problem with most of the dry-fixed systems where the rubber gasket can be removed and spacers adjusted. Some systems requires a tool for removal of the spacers (usually also required for installation) and others have spacers which are adjustable by means of, e.g. allen bolts. If I experience any problems I will do a subsequent post. David

Thanks for the input everyone. I will get some SE advice on this. As for adjustment over time, some of the systems are easy to adjust after initial fixing and some impossible...

We are looking to install frameless glass balustrading on a balcony, bottom fixed to painted galvanised 200 x 150mm 8mm RHS steel box section, and on a terrace bottom fixed to concrete. My current issue relates to the balcony which will require 1100mm high balustrading tested to 0.74kn/m2. We are looking at the various anodised alloy channel systems (PanelGrip, OnLevel etc..). The recommendation is that 17.5mm toughened laminated glass is acceptable provided it is fixed at 200mm centres but that the better option is 21.5mm toughened laminated glass which can be fixed at 600mm centres. I assume that the different fixing centres for thickness of glass is related to the potential for flexion damage. We are intending to use M10 Type 316 SS bolts for fixing, bolted into tapped holes in the RHS8 so as to avoid through bolting the box section with nuts underneath. My concerns are a) the potential for galvanic corrosion between the galvanised steel, the SS bolts and the aluminium channel, particularly given we are on the Isle of Wight and have some salt in SW gales; and b) whether bolting into tapped holes in 8mm steel will be sufficient. Any thoughts/advice would be most appreciated. We will be using Galvafroid to seal where we are tapping through the galvanising wherever possible. Incidentally, it looks like the best prices we can find are on F. H. Brundles site where they offer a number of different systems and competitive glass prices. Thanks David

Grendel thanks for this. Bad news. I will have to see about getting on the creditors list. Hmmmmmmm.......

Here is another alternative which looks good and similar price (just under £10 per unit): 9641.pdf

We had to go with CRL for our Velox build insurance as Velox had a delay in renewing their kitemarks, apparently due to moving from wire to fibreglass ties. The CRL insurance was more expensive (primarily due to not getting them on board for the foundations stage) so Velox credited us with the difference between NHBC and CRL costs.

A follow up question on use of softened water, this time for window cleaning. We will shortly be installing our water softener and have an external "soft" water tap specifically for window and car cleaning. Having done a bit of reading on the internet it appears that the ion exchange system for softening water (Harveys etc..) leaves sodium and other contaminants which can result in streaks and spots on windows. Professional window cleaners seem to use de-ionisers and reverse osmosis systems to "clean" the water. As we have a lot of glass I am beginning to think about the issue of cleaning and wondered if anyone had any suggestions/tips. Thanks in advance. David

Thanks Temp. Your question as to the reason for tensioning at either end is apt. The only reason I can give is the very unlikely risk (provided the installation is set up optimally in the first place) of running out of thread to tension the wire as it stretches over time.

Thanks ProDave. That is exactly my concern. Flexion of 12.5mm in two adjacent wires would result in a 100mm gap.

Hi, we have a ground floor to roof stairwell/atrium and are looking to diverge from the plans and construct an L shaped walk-on glass floor at first floor level bisecting the atrium, leaving the area above treads 5-15 and part of 1/2 winder 4 open (see sections of plans attached) for access up the stairs. The glass floor will be constructed of four approx. 1m square 31mm panes of laminated glass supported on steel frames and will have a steel handrail. The stairs themselves will have open risers and will appear as if cantievered from the wall but will in fact be of steel construction, bolted into the structural concrete wall, and clad in elm plywood. We did not want to use the more traditional steel or glass balustrading for the "cantilevered" staircase so our plan is to use vertical 5mm stainless wire for balustrading, 3 per tread spaced at approx 75mm. The wire will be tensioned at the top at the handrail level (approx 1m above first floor level), will pass through a steel eyebolt or hole in the structural steel frame at first floor level and tensioned at the bottom underneath each tread. We are thinking of using swage stud threaded terminals for tensioning top and bottom, rather than bottle screws, both to save money and have a cleaner appearance (see attached pic). The maximum length of wire will be approximately 3.5m, at tread 4/5. I don't know if anyone on the forum has any experience in this area but I would welcome any thoughts or suggestions, including on whether we will be able to maintain sufficient tension using the swage stud threaded terminals. Swage Stud Threaded Terminal.docx

Hi Eandg, we used KF410 windows. Here is a link: https://www.internorm.com/uk-en/products/upvc-windows/